Sidetracked: Easter.

Easter was at my house again this year. In my family this is a completely secular, food-oriented holiday. This was the house we traditionally always had Easter at when we were little kids, so this is the first time everyone has been here since we moved in. All my sisters came with their children, and Matt's brother came with his kids too. This was hilarious because their mom put them in adorable matching lavender Easter dresses with little white dress shoes and cardigans and all my sisters' kids were running around in jeans and thrift store dresses. It makes for a good contrast in pictures, half a dozen little towheaded terrors and two misleadingly perfect-looking little black-haired angels. Anyways, here's the rundown:

ham,
smoked salmon,
banana nut muffins (everyone thought these were from the bakery, but I made them),
fruit ring (this was from the bakery, it got inhaled in about 30 seconds, some people didn't even know it existed),
fruit salad,
green salad (sisterly contribution),
quinoa salad (my aunt brings this to all potlucks because everyone requests it, I am waiting for the recipe),
three loaves of bread (one wine-wheat-walnut, two challah, from the awesome bakery),
spinach-mushroom-and-potato frittata (in a big Pyrex, this is great for a big crowd but I think I overdid the potato component a bit), 

and no chocolate. WTF was I thinking?

Incidental Easter-related/ non-Cure house purchases included a bunch of ranunculus that has lasted really well for $3.99 (I will SO be buying those again), as well as a gorgeous Marimekko-esque tablecloth and some cute new dishtowels from my soon-to-be-defunct favorite kitchen store. The auto spell checker does not like me today.

And incidental benefits included being the recipient of a ton of flowers so now my house may be messy but it smells like heaven. And my sisters finally dragged away about half the contents of the garage. Thank goodness. I anticipate actually being able to park in there in the relatively near future. Crazy? Possibly.

Decisions, Decisions (edited for Alana)

I am trying to decide if I should just paint my poor office a neutral color and let it be, at least for now. But everything in it is wood or green except the big loveseat (which is a boring neutral taupe) so I worry it might be too boring. Which got me surfing Etsy for un-boring pillow covers for the loveseat.

This is the front-runner, obnoxious and bright but still modern enough to not bother me:

This is a little pricier than I like, I just love the color and the big peacock feather. It also comes in a gorgeous eggplant color that doesn't go with anything, sigh.

 

And this is totally the wrong colors for everything in my house but I adore the pattern. Somebody go buy this!

I am not changing the curtains anytime soon, so I feel like the pillow cover is a good spot for a little pop of obnoxious color. The rug will play well with most patterns as long as they have a little bit of green... 

Somebody opinionated, help me!

Also, Easter roundup will be forthcoming, once I fully recover.

Edited to add: this is the room as it stands. Loosely, but the wood tones are right and the art is all correct. My curtains are lined thermal "linen" from Country Curtains or somewhere like that, they are respectable (a.k.a. not going to change) but have a very yellow tone to them (I think it's from the lining). This is what I am thinking about that nice flowery pillow to jazz things up a little bit. And leaning away from painting the walls green (I don't want it to be dark in there with all that dark wood).  

Office Sketch by ajftuba on Polyvore.com

Goodwin Collection | west elm, $349
Landon Bookcase | Crate&Barrel, $399
Reggie Green 2'x3' Rug | Crate&Barrel
Strut Bookcase | Crate&Barrel
Ainsworth Cognac Desk | Crate&Barrel
Ambience Metropolitan Cherry Table Lamp | LampsPlus.com

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Musical Interlude.

It's review time! I was going to put in a bunch of books and the current albums I have on repeat, but I decided that this one should get its own post because it is so rad.

Anais Mitchell - Hadestown
This is apparently a Folk Opera. Point is, it's a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, with Greg Brown as Hades and Ani DiFranco as Persephone. Eurydice is the adorably-voiced Anais Mitchell (a girlish, 1940's type of voice I normally despise, but she absolutely pulls it off) and Justin Vernon from Bon Iver as Orpheus (his voice is made to stand out with an interesting chorus effect). It is brilliantly produced by Ani DiFranco's bass player, Todd Sickafoose and the Fates are the awesome Haden Sisters, a trio of triplets with some serious vocal chops.

The orchestration is very enjoyable and surprisingly complex (see clip #1). I am usually more neutral on the folk/Americana/bluegrass but this has enough good ingredients that I like that it makes for a delicious musical stew. Ok, so that was not my best metaphor ever. Let us just say, somebody sent us this album via the internet and I had to go out and buy it at an actual record store because this is the music I want to support with my cash monies.

Orpheus (the broke musician) and Eurydice

 

The devil's offer... 

Is it silly that I assume anyone reading my blog is familiar with the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice? Because I totally do.

In Lieu.

Update

So the projects continue apace. Right now I have some interim shots so you can see what I am up to... painting the bedroom. Just so we remember, here is a Before:

Enthralling, I know. Here's a During:

And the closest I have to an After:

Like my office chair? It's for clothes stacking. I know these are not the best pictures, but it is mostly to show that I have been DOING something here. And tragically, this color that I love in here, looks like poo in my office, which is the room I really need to paint now.

Monday Morning, You Gave Me No Warning

I'm back! Had to go to Reno this weekend for a memorial service (sad, but nice) and to turn on the sprinklers - we have a renter! And this morning I had a job interview... cross your fingers for me!

Week 3: Research Furniture and Services

--What are you going to buy, how much and where can you find it?

--Start a list of Interior changes you want to make (use the Interior design worksheet)

--Identify cool room and warm rooms.

--Decide on window treatments

--Apply the 80/20 colour rule

--Research and call in help

1. Found the magazine holders on sale at the Container Store, I can see that is going to be a place I have to avoid. Picture frame was via amazon.com. Rug pad will be from West Elm, most likely, because I have a coupon and they have the size I need.

2. Interior changes mainly involve organizing, repainting and moving some stuff around. I have a small side table that might get put next to the loveseat, and art is continually being rearranged. More storage ideas may still be pending.

3. This is a warm room. The rug has a lot of colors in it but the floor is a distinctly orangey oak and the curtains are a "linen" that looks pretty yellow to me (this is not from age, they are relatively new and pleasantly clean). All the other furniture is warm wood tones except for the loveseat which is a neutral taupe (also warm).

4. These are staying. 

5. I have totally forgotten the 80/20 rule. Which is bad because it probably says something about the paint color I am thinking about. It is a light yellowy sort of lemongrass which I think won't fight with all the wood or overwhelm with all the green accents. I am on the fence. My mom is rooting for me to use the shade I just picked out for the bedroom, which is a darker sort of khaki green, but this is not as bright of a room and more of the accents are green so I am thinking it might be green overkill.

6. This is my room and I am doing it on my own. Research is ongoing.

Also, I am thinking about putting this on the wall. What do we think, too dark? I kind of love it so I may be biased.